Oral-Formulaic Theory: Annotated Bibliography

Randolph Quirk. "Poetic Language and Old English Meter." In Early English and Norse Studies Presented to Hugh Smith in Honor of His Sixtieth Birthday. Ed. Arthur Brown and Peter Foote. London: Methuen. pp. 150-71.

Concerned with charting the role of aesthetics in formulaic composition in OE. Feels the OE poet can assume an audience expectation, especially with respect to the formula and verse collocations, and that he can manipulate that expectation according to his artistic design. A reaction against what he views as the too mechanistic doctrine laid down by Magoun and followers.
Area: OE